Canada: Ontario willing to foot bill for national sex offender registry: Harris.

September 6, 2001

By Louise Elliott

TORONTO (CP) - Ontario is willing to develop and pay for a provincially led national sex offender registry if Ottawa refuses, Premier Mike Harris said Thursday.

Ontario's registry was formed last spring, but it won't help police in other provinces when Ontario's sex offenders decide to move, Harris said at a demonstration of the registry's software. "Right this minute, a known sex offender could go down to the Toronto bus terminal, could climb onto a bus," he said.

"Six hours later, (they could) disappear into the crowds in Montreal and another child and another community could be at risk."

Harris said Ontario is willing to share its software with the other provinces, and to offer legal advice pertaining to Christopher's Law, which established the legal framework for the registry last year.

After a lukewarm federal response to the idea of a national registry following a premier's meeting last month in Victoria, Harris now says Ontario may be willing to foot the bill.

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Source: © 2001 Canadian Press